Ok completely Hypothetical but....

[The Sherman]

from what you know of each religion if you had to back one(I suppose i am aiming this at the athiests) which religion would you back?

[cazzz1975]

none, religion had its place in the past as a form of law and life enforcement.

[The Sherman]

i meant this to be in religion section but even so i think you missed the point of the question!

[cazzz1975]

I think you have bigger expectations of religion

[JockSporran]

Why are you aiming at the atheists? Surely they wouldn't back any religion?

I personally think you should choose whatever religion or philosophy you are most comfortable with and which supports your own ideas about life and the world.

[Nosha123]

dont know much about Buddhism.. but I like the live and let live approach!!

[The Sherman]

sigh again your all missing the point so i'll make it reaaaally clear.

if you HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD to choose a religion
not if you were given the choice on whether to believe or not but absolutely had to.

[cazzz1975]

I would still say NONE, that is a valid choice, athiests have already made their choice. not believing in religion is a choice

[JonnyBoy12]

"Atheism is an non-prophet organisation"!

[monkeyeyes]

As an atheist I have looked at and into, (to a greater or lesser degree), Religion(s).

There is no single one which I would choose, given the choice.

If I could cherry-pick from religions and philosophies and build my own hand-book for living a good, decent, moral, non-judgemental, accepting of all life-style, I would..........and then again, I believe I already have, without recourse to any sort of God.

This is why atheists cannot answer your question with the brevity you seemingly require.

[naomi24]

I saw this question twice and thought I was having a mad moment - for a moment - until I realised that Sherman had posted it in R&S too.

Buddism.

[firetracie]

Thanks naomi! Though I was going mad there for a moment.

[interele]

Actually another question
Is there a word for someone who believes in God but not in religion - Agnostic doesn't seem to cover it really

[Octavius]

Deism I suppose...?

[keyplus90]

Godism? I assume............

[boogieboogie]

As most people put 'Jedi' on the Census form I guess I would go with the majority (safety in numbers).

[flip_flop]

This one

http://www.venganza.org/

Seems as valid as any other religion.

[JockSporran]

If by religion you mean a type of belief, then I'd say Pantheism. If however you mean organised religion, I'd maybe go for Quakerism (though Buddhism and Taoism are good too).

[chakka35]

As a proud atheist, I have naturally given up all such nonsense and would no more go back to it than start believing in Santa again.
But answering the question in the fun spirit in which I think it was intended I think I'd pick Anglicanism - because it is the most harmless.
Roman Catholicism is deeply dishonest and rather sinister in the way that, like old Soviet Communism, it invents dogma and then insists that believers accept that dogma or be punished in hell, an idea that must terrify children. Its obsession with ancient bits of bone is yucky.

Jehovah's Witnesses would rather let a child die than give it the blood needed to survive, so they are beyond the pale.

Methodists and others forbid alcohol so I shan't toast them with my next G&T.

Jews are polite but the extremes to which they take the 'no work on the Sabbath' rule is just potty. (And what about Dawkins' account of how a very prominent Jew refused to shake hands with a group of women in case one of them was menstruatiing and would make him unclean?)

Islam is too dominating of a person's individualism and leads to behaviour (forced marriages, 'honour' killings and so on) which are unacceptable in real life.

Don't know much about many others, so I'll settle for the nice bumbling English vicar on his bicycle, saying nothing of much consequence and offending nobody, and probably not even a believer in God if the truth be known.

[JockSporran]

Steve.5 - Did you know:

1) China and the USSR went to war over a border dispute in the 1970s. Both sides were Communist. Religion had nothing to do with it.

2) Some religions and religious people actually oppose war. Some have even suffered imprisonment, torture and persecution for opposing war.

See - you learn things on Answerbank!